INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 130, No. 61
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
!
ITHACA, NEW YORK
20 Pages – Free
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Ticket to View
Poptimistic
Thank You
Partly Cloudy HIGH: 43 LOW: 37
Next year, movie-goers may see increased ticket prices at Cornell Cinema. | Page 3
Kaitlyn Tiffany ’15 enjoyed One Direction’s new album, Midnight Memories. | Page 11
Ben DeLuca ’98, former men’s lacrosse head coach, releases a statement thanking his supporters. | Page 20
ALANA Reps to S.A.: Cuts Are‘Unthinkable’
DYLAN CLEMENS / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
By NOAH RANKIN Sun Senior Writer
The ALANA Intercultural Programming Board, an umbrella organization for multicultural groups on campus, could see its 2014-16 budget slashed by $23,635 because of what the Student Assembly appropriations committee calls a lack of fiscal responsibility and “exorbitant” spending. ALANA representatives and members are planning to appeal the committee’s recommendation at Thursday’s S.A. meeting. The organization’s president, Karan Javaji ’14, says the proposed cuts are “unthinkable.” ALANA — which consists of five multicultural student umbrella “For at least six years, organizations and supplies funds to we’ve been functioning over 100 member organizations — had an annual budget of about on a budget of more than $118,125 for the 2012-14 byline this. ... To expect us to go funding cycle. While ALANA had back to six years ago is requested a $37,125 increase in byline funding — which would unthinkable.” have brought its budget to $155,250 — the appropriations Karan Javaji ’14 committee denied ALANA’s request, recommending by an 8 to 2 vote that ALANA’s funds be cut to $94,500. In making its recommendation, the committee cited not only what it described as unsustainable spending but also a failure by ALANA to adhere to its own funding guidelines. According to Javaji, the organization requested an increase in funds because, since 2011, it has seen an increase in the number of member organizations it supports, as well as the formation of a new umbrella, the South Asian Council. Javaji noted that ALANA has only received increases in funding for the last few byline cycles, adding that he does not believe ALANA will be able to sustain itself with a decrease in funding. Last year, ALANA ran out of funds around March, which Javaji said serves as a testament to the increased demand on the organization. “For at least six years, we’ve been functioning on a budget of more than this with fewer organizations, doing a lot less than what we’re See ALANA page 4
Stand up | Students participate in a silent protest on the Arts Quad Wednesday, expressing their solidarity with the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
Students Support Undocumented Peers Protest a response to ‘Catch an Illegal Immigrant’ game By AIMEE CHO Sun Staff Writer
Wearing white shirts that said “Undocumented” on the front and “No human being is illegal” on the back, a rotating group of about 10 protestors stood on the Arts Quad in support of undocumented students Wednesday. It was the same day a “Catch an Illegal Immigrant” game was originally supposed to be organized by the Young Conservatives of Texas at the University of Texas at Austin. The organization had planned to give students who chased and caught YCT members who were designated “illegal immigrants” $25reward cards. Although the game was cancelled early Tuesday morning after it drew widespread
condemnation, the demonstration at Cornell went on as planned to show solidarity with the millions of undocumented immigrants who live in the U.S. The Cornell protestors expressed their disgust with the YCT, saying the “game” it had planned was distasteful. “The game was disgusting, inhumane and animalistic. Their intent was to raise awareness, but instead, [YCT] just showed their ignorance,” Kimberly Cardenas ’17 said. Max Alaghband ’17 said he was protesting because of his personal connection to the issue of illegal immigration. “My great grandpa crossed the border withSee PROTEST page 4
Vonage Co-Founder:‘Take a Hobby, Make It Your Profession’ By TALIA JUBAS Sun Staff Writer
Jeff Pulver, co-founder of Vonage, a privately held Voice Over Internet Protocol provider, spoke Tuesday n i g h t
about the personal and professional experiences that led him past pitfalls to success. Pulver said that, even when as a young man growing up on Long Island, he was always very entrepreneurially minded — running three business in his free time “because no one told me that I couldn't,” he said.
“I found that the girls who wouldn’t invite me ANTHONY CHEN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
to their Sweet Sixteens would pay me money to D.J. at their Sweet Sixteens,” he said. Pulver also spent his time playing with his ham radio, which enabled him to communicate with other amateur radio users over radio waves. It was this device, he said, that made him fall in love with communication technology, a passion that would go on to make him millions after starting Vonage. “One of the best gifts you can give yourself is to take a hobby and make it your profession,” he said. Pulver emphasized that he did not plan for his life to take
the direction that it did. After graduating with a degree in accounting, Pulver took a job on Wall Street. While he was still working for corporate I.T., Pulver continued to pursue his hobby of “talking on the Internet.” In 1995, he created FreeWorld DialUp, which he described as a “movement on the Internet” that enabled “strangers to make free phone calls from their computer.” Pulver was later fired from his Wall Street position. His VoIP company “had no business model; we had nothing,” and he couldn’t find anyone to invest, he said. So Pulver became his own investor. In 1996, he hosted a conference “about this technolo-
gy that I was so in love with … voice over I.P.,” which people from all over the world attended. “I had all these strangers all over the world. … I never realized that these people thought I was an expert,” Pulver said. Pulver used himself as an example to deliver the message that not knowing something should never get in the way of passion or ambition. “I certainly didn’t know anything about telecom, but that didn’t stop me,” he said, adding that “some of the biggest business mistakes I’ve made in my life were letting other people convince me I couldn’t do something.” Talia Jubas can be reached at tjubas@cornellsun.com.